Let Country Club development proceed

It’s encouraging that a compromise may be in the works over the fate of the now-closed Escondido Country Club.

Owner Michael Schlesinger has every right to develop the 111-acre site he bought in late 2012. He determined that continuing to operate the country club and golf course was no longer financially feasible, but after he shuttered the facility last April and floated plans to build homes on the site nearby residents had a fit. They launched a successful petition drive to have the property declared permanent open space, a measure the City Council foolishly adopted last August.

Since then there’s been a flurry of litigation, including a suit by Schlesinger that maintains the open space designation amounts to an illegal “taking” of his property. Meanwhile, the golf course has deteriorated.

Now residents say they’re open to a compromise in which they would drop their opposition to a new residential development as long as Schlesinger provides for open space and other amenities like trails and parkland — all elements of his original proposal, which proposed 50 percent open space.

Hopefully, residents and Schlesinger will be able to hash something out so that the ban on building can be lifted. The longer the impasse persists, the greater the financial risk to taxpayers.